♡ BREATH OF THE DRAGON ♡ (ARC)

Rating: I liked it!

If you're one of those who've watched Bruce Lee growing up, then this one will bring back the nostalgia from his early movies as this book is based on characters and teachings of Bruce Lee.

This is a YA fantasy book that follows the strong-willed Jun, born without the Breathmark (sign of Dragon), who will not let anything hold him back in reaching his greatest dream to be the Guardian. But the Guardian Tournament could be more than just the battle for honor and the coveted position. The fate of the country - of East vs West and the political tensions have intensified.

This book depicts a quest for ambition and the fierce determination to not let anything stand in one's way. But at certain times, it comes with a cost. How far can one push through the odds - whether life or death.

The tournament lacked power and intensity. I wished the action writings were more developed as this is action-packed martial arts themed. But the storyline in itself got me hooked since prologue and I can say, yes till the end. I'm excited to see more character development from Jun and also the minor characters alongside him. The plot twists also got me intrigued!

I will definitely be waiting for Book 2 as I need to know their fates and how Jun and his comrades can forestall the tides of war. To win in a battle that is more than ambition, more than what you've known and trained your whole life for, and recognizing that life itself is SO MUCH MORE than what's presented on the facade.

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Thank you to @wednesdaybooks via @netgalley for providing me with an ARC and as always, opinions above are all mine. #wednesdaybooks

First, I really enjoyed this. I am relatively new to what I would consider high fantasy, and I will admit to be extremely nervous about Fonda Lee's name being on this because I know the Green Bone saga is her most highly acclaimed work, and that is high fantasy. However, Breath of the Dragon was extraordinarily accessible—probably the fact that it's YA—so my nervousness was short-lived, and Shannon Lee and Fonda Lee put together a really entertaining, compelling story.

There are corrupt tournaments, powerful yet magically-deprived martial artists, and so many cool, easy-to-imagine action scenes. Jun actually thinks, behaves, rationalizes, and fears the way a sixteen year old would, even under the weight of trauma. He has a huge ego that often gets him in trouble, but he matures as the plot progresses and becomes an extremely likable young man that I rooted for.

Sometimes I find in YA fantasy I think the side characters are annoying or insignificant and that is certainly not the case here. Everyone feels so dynamic and alive, but I do wish there had been some more backstory for them and that there were more scenes with them on-page. Overall, I really enjoyed this one.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books, and NetGalley for providing an ARC!

4.25 ⭐️

3.5 ⭐️

First off, I’d like to thank NetGalley & the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I really enjoyed this story! I even told my husband he needs to pick it up & dive into it because the martial arts aspect mixed with the fantasy is just, so well done!

I’m looking forward to the second book and seeing where the journey goes!

Rating: 4.5/5
I received an eARC for my honest opinion.

This was my first Shannon Lee, Fonda Lee book and I liked it. In this book you will meet Jun, who is a twin, but his brother was picked to become a guardian, and he wasn’t all because he was dragon touched, and Jun wasn’t. Jun and his father moved from East to the West because he was practicing martial arts. Years later, when he is 16 Jun decides to go to the tournament for the elite guardians, he jumps in someone’s wagon headed to the West and that is where Jun's whole life changes.

I found this book’s world-building to be nothing less phenomenal. I loved the attention to details and how this author brought this fantasy to the world. I felt as though I was there with the characters traveling, learning new ways to fight, understanding the whole more and more. I found the lore of breathmarked and high stakes of the Guardians Tournament to be something new and fresh when it came to fantasy. I found myself so enthralled with the book that I was so sad when it ended. I need the next book soon as possible. I didn’t mind the politics in this book because the way that the author wrote it was just another layer to the book. The fight scenes were epic, and I loved that the author took their time to make sure that we had some great scenes. The characters were likable and well developed, I found myself emotionally invested.

I loved the main character, and I found his growth in this book to have been so great. I won’t lie at first, I didn’t like him, I found his character to have a huge ego, but you will see that he learns and understands and that ego goes away. I liked that he was interested in learning and knowing more about what is going on. I liked that you would see a lot of different paths that Jun can walk but he always finds himself on the right one. I liked Ren and I found her to be a perfect middle for Jun, she has compassion, she is brave, and friendly but also understands about life and the world that they live in. I can’t wait to see what the next book will bring for these characters.

I also received the audio of this book, and I found Eric Yang did a great job with narrating this book. He really brought the book to life and made me feel as though I knew the characters.

I can’t wait to own a copy of this book, if you like fast-paced, martial arts, fighting tournaments, YA book.

I want to thank NetGalley and St. Martin Press for the opportunity to review this book.

❤️🖤 Breath of the Dragon ARC Review 🖤❤️

Thank you so much to Shannon Lee, Fonda Lee and Wednesday Books for the opportunity to read and review this book!

Breathing of the Dragon is a YA fantasy and book one in the Breathmarked series. Every six years a tournament is held to determine the new guardian of the Magical Scroll of Heaven. Sixteen year old Jun is finally able to compete and is determined to prove himself as the one destined to guard the precious scroll

This was an interesting read. I enjoyed the story overall and liked the world building. However, I struggled a little bit with Jun throughout. Sometimes his behavior felt really juvenile for his age and other times it felt way too mature for his age. I also felt like the politics in the world didn’t quite fit with the overall tournament vibe of the story. It bounced around a lot for my ADHD brain and I felt a little lost at times. I had a hard time reconciling all of it into one character and story, which I felt like it prevented me from truly immersing myself in this book

Overall this was a three star read. I did like the general story and world building. I feel like there’s potential for additional character development in the next book in the series. This book does have some potential triggers, so please check if you’re sensitive. This book had hints of potential romance, but nothing in this book so no rating for spice will be given

If you’re a fan of YA fantasy with an interesting political world and engaging magic system, then absolutely pick this one up!

This is a young adult fantasy that follows Li Jun, a young martial artist. His twin brother at the age of 6, who is breathmarked is chosen by the council to train with all other breathmarked children to fight for the Emperor as Aspects.

No other individuals/citizen are allowed to practice martial arts besides Aspects, so when Li Jun shows his martial skills his punishment with his father is banishment from his home, mother and brother.

After 10 years of banishment, his hopes is to fight in the Gaurdian's tournament to bring his family honor and be renowned as the best warrior.

Jun is confident and at times too over confident MC, with his one focus entirely on training, competing in the tournament, and becoming the Gaurdian it exemplifies his choices of not caring about the consequences his actions may cause.

I loved the world the authors created with people having a touch of dragon's blood that gives them specialized abilities. It gives plenty of action, training montages, and self-discovery.

I did find the first half of the book's pacing to be quite slow. I'm also not sure if there was supposed to be a love triangle aspect between the characters Jun, Ren, and Yin and would have loved more build up between their connections separately and together. This also brings me to the point that I felt like more connections could have been made between Jun and Sifu Chang as his mentor to bring more of that emotional urgency to the various relationships formed throughout the book.

Overall this was a decent fantasy, and I highly recommend if you like martial arts, coming of age stories.

ARC/ALC review: Jun and his father are exiled from their home when government officials find out that his father has been illegally teaching his sons martial arts. Jun's mother and twin brother are left behind, with his dragon-marked brother going to train in martial arts under the government. 10 years later, Jun is in the East and is dead-set on proving himself as a warrior in the Guardian’s Tournament. His father forbids it, so Jun runs away to compete anyway. Upon arrival, he quickly realizes there's more at stake this year than he could have imagined.

Overall, I think this was a great start to a series. I am not into martial arts but found all of the fight scenes well-written and captivating. The world-building has been done in a way that sets up a lot of questions for future books to answer.

The reason this isn't rated higher is because, despite the technical high stakes of the tournament, that high stakes tension didn't really hit until after the tournament was over. That last 30% or so of the book after the tournament was my favorite by far.

Additionally, the characterization of all the characters felt a bit weak, making plot developments pack less of a punch when I haven't been brought around to feeling for them in the first place.

I'm hoping future installments up the tension and excitement and flesh out the characters more emotionally.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, Wednesday Books, and Netgalley for an e-ARC of Breath of the Dragon. Here are my thoughts!

16-year-old Jun has been training for the Guardian’s Tournament his whole life. Winning would allow him to help make political decisions that could improve his and his family’s well-being. His father forbids him from entering, so Jun betrays his father and finds a way to attend only to be faced with a very different tournament than he expected.

I loved this book so much that I went out and bought a copy when it came out last week. It has everything I want in my fantasy novel. The plot moves quickly in a world that is well-built in a timely fashion. The characters are unique and complex, leading to some very intricate friendships and enemies.

The magic and action are also spot on. I was constantly surprised by what was going to come next and found it very difficult to put the book down. This is my first novel by either Fonda Lee or Shannon Lee. I own The Green Bone Saga, and after reading this novel I am moving it up higher on my to read list.

A fun fact about that novel is that Shannon Lee is Bruce Lee’s daughter, and a lot of the martial arts teachings are based on his own teachings! I can’t wait for the second novel in this duology!

I definitely picked this one up as an ode to my father as he loves Bruce Lee. Throughout the story, we follow a young boy training with his dad and attempting to prove himself/grow stronger. Turns out, his brother is marked as something special but he isn't which is kind of what spurs along the training. While the world building was fantastic, I had a hard time connecting with the characters which is likely why this book fell a little bit flat for me. Still happy to have read it just for the comforting fact of experiencing something my dad likes in my own way.

Thanks or the eArc! <3

This first book in the new fantasy series based on martial arts study and characters by Bruce Lee certainly tries to set itself up as an epic start to a story, but it is both paced too slowly and was ended too abruptly. The side characters are much more intriguing than the MC and the politics seems lazily constructed.

The decision to completely separate this first novel and the story of one brother from the twin and his story also worked against it. Surely someone as clearly involved in politics as an adept would have to at least be considering the goings on of the empire from wherever he ended up. Not my only complaint, but a big issue since this kind of weird editing across the series already points to plot issues.

The aspect I wanted a lot more of was the fighting styles, but that seemed a little derivative. Give me a book about Ren, though…

Thank you to NetGalley for my digital copy. These opinions are my own.

ten years ago, jun and his father were exiled from their home, separated from the other half of their family, due to practicing martial arts. now, jun’s father is content putting the martial arts behind them, but jun isn’t…especially when it comes to the guardian’s tournament, which happens every six years. despite not being breathmarked, jun knows he has a decent chance of winning, so against his father’s wishes, he sneaks off to the capital to take part in the tournament. as he competes, he begins to realize that he’s not only fighting for a better life for himself, but for the country itself.

as someone who grew up watching mixed martial arts, i was very excited to read a book focusing on martial arts, especially one in the fantasy genre. the descriptions of these fights were so detailed, helping me clearly envision what was happening (which isn’t always the case when i read fight scenes). the breathmarked element and how this played into the martial arts was interesting, too. most guardians are breathmarked, as their breathmarks can give them supernatural powers, such as having unbreakable bones, knowing an opponent’s exact weak points, and so on. jun’s twin has a breathmark, and was taken away when they were younger because of it, but jun himself does not have one. even though this makes him the underdog, he still works hard to be the best.

this was a thrilling YA fantasy, and i can’t wait for book two!

Li Jun is a young man who was separated from his mom and twin brother after he and his father were exiled to the other side of the snake wall (I’m imagining something similar to the Great Wall). He decides to enter a martial arts tournament to be the next Guardian of an ancient scroll but finds himself in political turmoil.

The combat was written pretty well, though I can understand writing it out can be a lot so the fights felt pretty short. The flow of the story went very well. You get the set up, his traveling, competition, and after. It all flowed together very naturally with realistic characters who are drawn together by chance. He travels with Ren, a performer and adopted daughter of a traveling flutist, and what I liked is that there was no signs of romance between them. Li and Ren had a level of respect for each other and had a reason to keep each other around. Overall, this was a solid book with a good set up in the last few chapters for the next book.

This was a pretty interesting read that had me pretty engaged for most of the story. There were only some parts that I wish had been more fleshed out but otherwise it was a solid read. It only had some parts that were slow and the ending felt a bit rushed. But I loved the action and the twists and turns. 3.75 rounded to 4 stars

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc

I was provided both and ALC and an ARC of this book via Netgalley, all opinions are my own. I read both the ebook and listened along to the audio. Both were great formats to follow along Jun's journey to restore his family's honor and fight for what is right in the empire.

This follows Jun, an aspiring warrior who has been separated from is mother and twin brother from a young age. Sai is breathmarked, while Jun was not so as any hot-headed 6 year old, he can't understand why his twin is allowed to do things he isn't. Jun and his father are exiled, while Sai is taken to be trained as an Aspect and their mother goes with him. Their separation is extended due to unrest between the East and the West. He hopes to restore honor to his family and reunite with his mother and brother by becoming the next Guardian. His father has forbidden him from participating in the upcoming Guardian Tournament despite the Master of the school he trains at stating he is ready to compete. Martial arts were the reason they were separated from their family in the first place, and his father doesn't want to lose Jun.

I hope we get to learn more about Sai, the twin, in the next book. He is mentioned often, but after the prologue, we never reunite with him. Jun thinks about him often, and uses the thought of reuniting with him and their mother as motivation for many of his actions. I also hope to learn more about the Aspects and the Breathmarked in general. Their abilities and lore is fascinating, but as a personal preference I always want more information about magic and lore.

If you enjoy martial arts especially those of Bruce Lee, and fantasy this is a great book to pick up. It is action packed and has great world building. There is good character development, and our main character has to work hard for his achievements as he isn't the chosen one with special abilities like some of his opponents. There is a good political intrigue plot along side the fight scenes, and I suspect that will be expanded on more in the next book. I'm looking forward to seeing where book 2 takes us and how the plot develops and where Jun's journey goes next.

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for this eARC and audiobook arc in exchange for an honest review!

Fonda Lee is forever one of my favorite authors and she, along with Shannon Lee, knocked it out of the park with this one. Even though it was YA, the stakes and danger Jun was in was intense. The authors did not hold back.

There were times Jun's passion for martial art was frustrating because it kept getting him into problem but as the story went on and we found out more about Jun and the world, his determination made more sense.

The characters were so alive. Even the minor characters all had memorable moments that made you love them. I loved the court politics and the AMAZING fight scenes. I can't wait for the sequel and to find out more about the world and this magic system.

What to expect:
Tournament Story
No Romance
Martial Arts (alot of it)
Fast Paced
Academic Rivals
Found Family
Fight Scenes
MMC in a YA

4.5 I picked up this book because of Fonda Lee and my desire to read Greenbone and honestly I had a blast with this and I'm excited for book 2

The characters are fun, it's quick paced and the magic system is easy to understand. I love the journey Jun goes through and how his relationships with himself, his family and his friends change.

The Breath of the Dragon is like reading a martial arts movie where the main character is completely oblivious to the happenings around him. I can’t blame him though, he’s only a kid. Ultimately he finds himself at the center of a plot that he had no knowledge of and he isn’t all that quick at learning how to play politics.

Overall a fast paced, action packed book that would be adored by teenage boys who are really into manga. I think it works well for YA. The pacing was unexpected; I felt like the book was rushing along and I couldn’t figure out what could possibly fill the last 30% of the book, and that’s where the plot just soared.

"Marked or not, everyone of us has Breath enough to will our own destiny into being."
A real fighter wins not because of brute strength or clear intelligence, but sheer will.
Jun Li is a young student who dreams of becoming the Guardian of the East to make his father proud and reunite his family, but throughout his journey he is constantly tested and put up against everything he has ever known to be true.
Once I picked this story up, I could not put it down! I had to keep reading and learning more about the different fighting styles and to see who would win the tournaments. The fights were brutal! I didn't expect it and I felt for all the fighters.
Fonda Lee has a way of writing that instantly transports you into worlds and tests your own beliefs for how things should be. I instantly felt connected with the characters and I'm ready to protect Jun with my life!
!! TW: Violence, cursing, blood, death
*Thank you NetGalley for an early copy so that I could review this novel*

Breath of the Dragon was a wonderful book. As always, Fonda Lee's world building was fantastic.

Let's start with the main. I will admit I found Jun annoying at first. Then again he is a 16 year old teenager so perhaps that is to be expected. He is impulsive and rarely thinks ahead. However, the path he chooses shapes him to grow rapidly and open his eyes to the world around him. I immensely enjoyed watching his character and his relationships develop with other characters.

The book is filled with action and it is so well described and flows. I can't wait to for the next book.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Publishing Group for providing an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This isn’t the usual kind of fantasy I read but it sounded interesting.

I did enjoy this book but I just found it to be ok.It’s well writting style but I just struggled getting into this book. I also didn’t connect with the characters.